ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 299 
be emitted, the result is a nasal 0, that is, an m; and if m be treated like w to produce 
wh, surd aspirate mh will result, heard in what Dr. Rush calls the “symbol of a sneer,” 
and written hem! in English, and fm in German. But this aspirate m is followed by a 
true sonant m (mhm) as wh in English is always followed by a true w, when being made 
up of the four sounds wh-w-e-n. See §41a, 4th paradox. To this mm Lepsius (Alpha- 
bet p. 27) wrongly assigns the vowel in up, with its resonance “lost by partially contract- 
ing the mouth or even closing it entirely, in the latter case it is heard through the nose.” 
He would mark it with a minute circle below m, probably the final one—or both. 
NOTATION OF NASANITY. 
186. Nasal vowels and consonants do not differ more than their pure originals differ. The 
Latin final in TAM, TUM, was not M, but a nasal sign for the vowels, Verrius Flaccus wrote 
it with half its letter n. It is sometimes omitted in Inscriptions, and Manutius (Ortho- 
graphiae Ratio, Venetiis, 1566, p. 145,) gives an inscription beginning with the line— 
LVXURIANTe . ANIMO . POENU 
where the ‘m’ is indicated by a superior line, the small letters e, u, being probably used 
because marked capitals were wanting. This is common in old printing as in “—dura- 
bit mundus sub Meschia duob. millibus annori, and postea revertetur ad informé sua 
specié.” Sebastian Munster, Evang. Hebr. Lat. Basilew, 1582, p. 66. The old printers 
used it for 7 also. The Portuguese adopted this notation, as in 0, and it is used by Rapp 
and Lepsius; italic m is used by Max Miller, as in am; which Ellis would write an aa, 
or aA; Hichhoff an the m finishing with a minute circle; Féline Ekritur Fonetik, Paris, 
1852, a. 
187. A consonant is suggested by forms like an, am, where the effect is strictly a vowel; 
and they indicate a local etymology, which is as bad as writing nocht for not; for in many 
languages nasal vowels cannot be traced to an antecedent consonant. The missionary—says 
Max Miller, p. xx, Ixxxi, “should be guided entirely by ear, without paying any regard 
to etymological considerations, which are too apt to mislead even the most accomplished 
scholar.” “In a first attempt to fix a spoken language. ... the writer should not be 
swayed by any hasty etymological considerations.”* 
188. The indication of nasality by a superior (~) usurps the space which some will re- 
quire for the marks of length, and others for accentuals; and every nasal thus marked 
* Of course then we cannot write aw for o with Hichhoff, to accommodate a Sanscrit phase; nor ai for French 
é with Volney (Simplification, p. 41,) for the “ precious advantage” of representing certain Arabic plurals by re- 
versing the characters, as in dair a house, d/ar houses. This would be paralleled in music, by writing the notes 
C@ instead of the intermediate E. 
VOL. XI.—39 
